My first Salute's haul

When you go to Salute it is a time-honored tradition to show off your loot so without further adieu here it comes (first picture's bullet points are left to right).

 Metal Hellenic 1st corps, Polemarch (GrippingBeast) and Foundry figures

•  12 Successor Catarphracts and 1 commander (1st corpse)
•  24 Libyan veteran spearmen (to be used as thorakitai, GB Polemarch)
• 54 phalangites and commands (green bases, some with trousers, 1st corpse)
• 1 armored elephant
• 12 Companion cavalry (to be used as generic cavalry, Foundry

• Deal of the day: all the stuff you see on green bases + elephant for £45!

Other stuff

• Renedra bases
• Salute plastic figure and magazine
• Alexander the Great and his father Phillip (Warlord Games)
• 3 Classical Greek commander and theban transfers (Warlord Games/Immortal Miniatures)
• 16 Velites (Agema Miniatures)
• 30 American WW2 infantry (Wargames Factory)
• M10 Tank Destroyer (Warlord Games)
• Seleucid Scythed Chariot (1st Corps)
• Some paints
• Rust effect pot (£10 but it is really good, Modelmates )

Hypaspists, Psiloi and Persians WIPs

  These are some of the figures I've been working on. They are working in progress because Psiloi and Hypaspists have no washes as of yet and all the models including Persians need to get some greenery on to their bases.

Victrix Mercenary Hoplites painted as Hypaspistoi

 These two are my colourscheme test. I am not too happy with the linthorax, rather than having the whole thing purple I might have a white linthorax with purple and yellow accents.

 Shields meant to show Alexander the Great in Persian headgear. This would mean it is a relatively late shield so could represent Alexander's army during his later years or that of Diadochi.

 Perry's Sudanese Tribesmen painted as Psiloi

These guys are standard, I've only added hats from ImmortalMiniatures/Warlord's Classical hoplites sprues. No washes on those yet so they look a bit plain.

Wargames Factory's Late Achaemenid Persians 

 This is the first try I tried to give infantry bowstrings and it turned out to be really easy- take broom bristle, dap both ends of the bow in some superglue and stick the bristle on. When dry clip of the excess bristle and paint over the dry superglue (it usually turns white so you will need to go over it).

Size comparison 

     
  A quick size comparison with Perry, Victrix, Wargames Factory, Victrix and Warlord Games phalangite. As you can see those ranges work very well together and you should be able to create a huge chunk of your Macedonian and Persian army with those.

Size comparisons for Ancients 28mm

 Here are a few comparison shots between Relic, Perry's, WargamesFactory, Warlord Games and  Immortal Miniatures. Some are slightly converted so read the descriptions please.

1. Relic Miniatures- Thracian

2. Perry's - Sudanese Tribesmen with ImmortalMin. hat (psiloi/peltast)

3. Wargames Factory - Hoplite

4. Wargames Factory -  Hoplite with WF Persian head (Takabara/Kardakes)

5. Wargames Factory - Persians

6. Warlord Games - Macedonian Phalangite

7. Immortal Miniatures/Warlord's - Hoplite

8. Warlord Games- Celtic Warrior with ImmortalMin. helmet (Galatian)

9. Warlord Games- Roman Imperial Legionary (scorpion crew)

Hopefully that gives you some ideas as to sizes. The bottom image shows Perry's Sudanese conversions to psiloi. The one above shows that if you want to have some sort of Parthian/ish opponents for Warlord's Imperial Romans... don't, look at the size difference!

Loot from the Eastern Front Game Show

   So below is the 'loot' I got from Norwich's Eastern Front Show. The Highlight is the Lord Of the Rings book which I got for a staggering price of £2. I got some WFactory WW2 Germans for my little brother, Hail Caesar starter set (~90 miniatures with the rulebook), some sand, Greek blisters,  Slingshot and Ancient Warfare Magazine issues as well as Society of Ancients membership (comes with handy 10% discount for a lot of wargaming companies, including Warlord Games) and last but not least some Foundry Macedonian Companions (12 for £25!).  

 Ancient Warfare Magazine is a historical magazine with a few wargaming adverts and 1-2 pages of miniatures review whereas slingshot is wargaming magazine with historical discussions. On the other hand Ancient Warfare Magazine has more illustrations and in general is of better quality (but more expensive!).

The starter set with full colour, hardcover rulebook

 and about 90 miniatures, all for £60.

And the 12 Foundry Companions below.

Wargames Factory Persians WIP

So with the crazy discounts on Persian sprues I started a Persian army which I am going to use as army of Darius to fight Alexander and possibly later as some levies for Diadochi armies too (I'm thinking Seleucid). So far I've put few archers together and greenstuffed the shoulders so there is no crack where the arms and heads are attached.